This summer, Game with Mum & Dad created some long-awaited family moments in Portugal, helping children reconnect with their imprisoned parents through sport and shared activities. Coordinated in Portugal by COPE member CASPAE, the project uses korfball to bring families together in a setting where the focus is on being a family. Korfball is a mixed-gender team sport combining elements of basketball and netball.
At the GWMD event held on 30 July at Paços de Ferreira Prison, one father was reunited with his daughter after around four years apart.
“For financial and family reasons, I had not seen my daughter for four years. Being reunited with her in this way made everything even more special,” he shared during the game.
For another family, the journey to take part in the event began across the border, with relatives travelling from Spain to be there.
For the children, these moments can be particularly meaningful. One nine-year-old participant summed up the feeling of the day simply: “I am very happy because today I can be with my whole family.”
These reunions are a reminder of something that can easily get lost behind the walls of a prison: children still need time with their parents that feels like family time. And sometimes, creating that feeling starts with something as simple as throwing a ball to one another.
A week later, on 6 August, the project brought together four imprisoned mothers, six children and six family members at Santa Cruz do Bispo Female Prison.
Again, the difference was striking. Instead of a conventional prison visit spent sitting and talking, mothers and children were able to play and laugh. They could cheer each other on, share small victories and experience one another in a completely different way. For the families, it created moments of closeness and normality that can be difficult to find within the restrictions of prison life.
As the CASPAE GWMD coordinator recalls: “It was particularly meaningful to observe the mothers playing with their children and making the most of every opportunity for affection and interaction. The activity also helped strengthen child-parent bonds and allowed families to discover a different side of the mothers’ daily lives inside prison.”
One child captured the difference perfectly, explaining how happy she was to play with her mother rather than simply sitting together as they usually would: “I am very happy to be with my mum like this and to be able to play with her, instead of just sitting down as we usually do. I missed this!”
Game with Mum & Dad is an international initiative that uses sport, play and shared activities to help children and imprisoned parents build and maintain family relationships. It began in Italy in 2015 with Bambinisenzasbarre and is now being implemented in several European countries, coordinated by Children of Prisoners Europe (COPE).
In Portugal, korfball provides the setting. But the real focus is what happens around the game: the hugs, the laughter, the encouragement and the small gestures of affection. Across both events, these moments were everywhere. A mother playing alongside her child. A father seeing his daughter again after years apart. Families travelling long distances just to share an afternoon together. Children discovering a different side of their parent.
For families affected by imprisonment, opportunities to spend meaningful, natural time together can be rare. GWMD shows how changing the setting of a prison visit—even for a few hours—can change the experience entirely.
